The Church of Eleven22 - Baptism of Jesus - Heaven to Earth - Matthew S1E2

Episode Date: January 18, 2026

In this message from Matthew 3, we encounter John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness with a simple but confrontational call: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. As Jesus steps into the Jordan to be baptized, we see the upside-down nature of God’s kingdom on full display—where humility comes before power, obedience before recognition, and identity before performance. From repentance and fruit-bearing faith to sanctification, salvation, and the refining fire of the Holy Spirit, this passage invites us to re-examine how we’re doing life and whose way we’re truly following. John prepared the way for Jesus’ first coming—and now we are called to prepare people for His return. Where might God be asking you to change direction so heaven can break into earth through your life? 📣 Episode Mentions: • Scripture Passage: Matthew 3 • Preacher: Pastor Joby Martin 📌 Supplemental Resources From This Week: • From Performance to Freedom: A Story of Surrender and Identity  • Baptism of Jesus - Heaven to Earth - Matthew S1E2 (Full Service)   • The Weight of Dad’s Words + The Love of the Father - Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin: Matthew S1E2 • Matthew Season 1: Heaven to Earth Sermon Series  • Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin  The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://coe22.com/donate

Amen and amen and amen. All right, church, let's go to work. Grab your Bibles. We're going to be in Matthew chapter 3. We are studying the book of Matthew for the whole year. We're divided up into seasons and episodes. We're in season one, episode two. We're going to talk about the baptism of Jesus

before we get there, just a little bit of housekeeping. For all of you that are attending the 7.30 a.m. service, thank you, thank you. For all of you attending the 4.22 afternoon, Sunday afternoon service, thank you. For all of you that aren't, you should pray about it. You should seriously pray about it. If you find yourself in a service that's really full, you should really pray about it. If you had a hard time getting into or out of the parking lot, you should really pray about it.

By pray about it, I mean actually go to it, all right? And if you're a 9 o'clock or a 7.30 or just hold those times kind of flexible. We may adjust those times a little bit, all right? And this is not a poll. We don't do polls around here. You pray about that too. But just hold all of that very loosely. And here's why.

We're just trying to serve you the best. We're in movement for all people to discover in deep in a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's what we're doing. And we're always trying to make room for one more. Amen? All right, so be about that. All right, Matthew chapter three. We're going to dive in.

We've got some heavy lifting to do it. It's going to be fun for me. Now, before we get into it, in case you missed last week, which you probably didn't, everybody was here. Remember Matthew's point. Remember what Matthew is doing. Matthew was born an insider. Chuses to be an outsider. Sells out his family.

Sells out his faith. sells at his people to work for the Roman government to take taxes from the Jewish people to give to the Roman government to then tyrannize the Jewish people. And then Jesus would love him enough to save him and not just save him, but put him on staff, call him a disciple and then eventually an apostle. And so Matthew is writing to the Jewish people to connect them to what the old covenant of the Old Testament has said that this God, Jesus Christ, Jesus from Nazareth, He is the Messiah. And what the promise given to Abraham will be fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And the promise was not about necessarily just a nation. The nation was a means to an end. The promises from that nation would arise a serpent crusher that would be a blessing for every family. And the way that was going to happen is every person that believes in Jesus would be the blessing because Jesus came to save sinners. So those are the goggles that you have to have on to understand. Now we get to chapter 3 of Matthew. The Bible says, in those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

Verse 2. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Well, look at John the Baptist. He is on board with our vision for this year. Isn't that nice of him? And if you were here last week and paying attention and remembered everything that I said, because obviously you do, you would say, I thought that's what Jesus said in chapter 4, verse 17, and you're right.

It's the exact same message. Well, is Jesus plagiarizing John the Baptist? No, no, no, no. What's actually happening here is John the Baptist was sent by Jesus. And, again, if you're on, if you're like a, you know, in the gifted class from Sunday school back in the day, but wait a second,

I thought John the Baptist was born before Jesus. He was born before Jesus, but he was not before Jesus. Before there was John the Baptist, there was Jesus. Because Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, co-eaternal with the Spirit and the Father, and one God in three persons,

sent John the Baptist as a messenger with this message. And here's his message. This is what we're focused on this year. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Let me ask you a question real quick. What do you need to repent of? I mean, we're in the New Year. Everybody loves a good New Year's resolution.

You know what mine is? mine is to finish one tube of chapstick. I've never done it my whole life. I've never been able to keep up with it. I lose them. It's Florida. You only need it for like two months out of the year. I can leave them out of my pocket,

and then I just have an empty one. It goes to heaven or wherever it goes in the dryer. So that's mine. Pray for me. All right. Now, but what do you need to repent of? There are things in our life that are hindering us, that are keeping us from the life.

life that God has for us. In the book of Hebrews, it says there's like two categories. There's sin, and you've got to quit. You got to stop. You ever notice Christians don't sin anymore? They just struggle. Being in disciple group, hey, I'm just struggling with lust. No, dude, you're looking at porn.

That's called a sin. It's going to kill you or you get to kill it. Those are the two options. You don't get to pet it. You don't get to tame it. Sin will kill it. kill you, destroy you. We have an enemy. The only thing he wants to do is steal, kill, and destroy. Is there sin in your life that needs to be cut out of your life? And some things in your life

are sin. You're just stupid. You just get too tangled up with the things of this world. Repentance is to rethink the way you're going to do this life and understand our way it and working. I need to turn my back to this world and turn my face to Jesus and be about the Father's business, repent, are there things in your life that you need to change direction? Change your mind. Why? Because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Listen, if you can't get your mind, I'm going to do my best all year to teach on what the kingdom of heaven is.

Yes, Jesus came to save your soul, but he didn't simply save you to give you a get out of hell free card so that one day you don't have to go there, you get to go to heaven. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ and you were adopted in. into the family of God. You're now about the king's business. You are a part of the kingdom. And we live in an upside down kingdom. We are not supposed to be conformed to the pattern of this world because this kingdom does things differently than his kingdom.

And we're kingdom people. This means that we do life differently, that we change direction, that we are about God's kingdom. And as ambassadors of his kingdom, And then we're going to learn this when Jesus teaches us how to pray. What we are supposed to be about is what we're praying is God. We want it to be on earth like it is in heaven.

So how do we, instead of what our culture does, is they pull hell up onto this earth. And what believers in Jesus are supposed to do is bring heaven down to this earth. So we treat people differently because we understand every single person we come face to face with is an image bearer of God and Jesus died on the cross for them. So we treat people differently. Here's the big three, okay? This is going to really make you mad. The world tells us how to do success and stuff and sex one way.

And then God says, no, no, no, no, we don't do it that way. You see, success is all about me. I want likes and I want clicks and I want a blue check and I want to make sure this world knows who I am. And God's like, no, that's not what we do. If you want to be first, you go last. You want to be the greatest, then you serve. And if service is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you. Everybody's okay with that one, theoretically.

This world has a way that it does stuff and money, and it simply says more is mine. That's called selfish. Now, right now in our country, we've got a little bit of people that believe what's yours is mine. That's called socialism. I don't have time for that, but that ain't another kingdom either. And as Christians, what we say is, no, no, no, no, no, everything I have is God's. And I'm going to bring to him first and best because I ultimately trust him.

And I know that with God, I can do more on less than I can do on my own with all of it. And so I'm going to be a good steward of all of it. I'm going to bring my first and best to him because I trust him and wherever my treasury is, there my heart will be also. And then I'm going to leverage all the rest of it for his glory and my joy. That is what I'm going to be about. and this world does sex a different way. Oh my goodness.

We're in like the Circus O'Lay now of sexual morality. There's not any anymore. So three ring circus, whatever you say goes. How's that working out for everybody? Not good is the answer. And then God would come along and go, no, we're going to do this differently. I made it up so I get to set the rules. And the rules are not to prevent you from life abundantly.

The rules are so that you can live in freedom. And this is, sex is not a God and sex is not gross. Sex is a gift from God. Meant to be done his way. Repent because we live in His kingdom and it is at hand. And the question is, are you going to grab onto this abundant life? Are you going to try to keep one foot in the world and one foot at church and navigate both? It's not going to go good for you.

This is his message. Verse three. This is going to tell you a little bit of who John the Baptist is. For, this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when Isaiah said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. So John the Baptist shows up on the scene, and this had been prophesied hundreds of years before he ever shows up on the scene. So one of the things that you're going to see in Matthew, there's a very famous pastor out of Atlanta. And years ago, he used the most unfortunate word. he said that the New Testament believers are unhitched from the Old Testament.

The problem with that will be the people that wrote the New Testament. If you don't understand the Old Testament, you'll have no idea what Matthew's talking about. Everything in the Old Testament is Christ concealed, and everything in the New Testament is Christ revealed. It's all talking about the same thing. It's not two different things, it's one thing, and it's all about Jesus. And John the Baptist shows up on the scene. He preaches very short messages. He just reels, repent!

For the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Tons of people start showing up. And so Matthew's like, yeah, this is the one that the prophets Isaiah said was coming on the scene. Verse four, now, John, this is John the baptizer. I love this man. He wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist. Of all the things to cover, we're talking about hell and heaven and eternity and life and death and the ministry, life, death, resurrection of Jesus.

Why in the world is Matthew care what John the Baptist is wearing? The jug was running around in camel hair. He did not get this from the outlet. You realize this? That brother saw a camel. That looks comfortable and maybe tasty. And he kills it and he makes a coat out of it. He gets him a leather belt.

Why is he wearing this? Well, there's really a lot here. When we read this, if you were connected to the Old Covenant, then you would know that there was a prophet in the Old Testament and he wore the same thing. And his name was Elijah. And so the New Testament readers, Matthew's audience, would automatically begin to connect John the baptizer with Elijah.

And what's also incredible is that John the Baptist's dad was a priest. And so typically what would happen in the first century is you just did what your dad did. And the dad and the priest had real fancy clothes, man, real fancy clothes. It was all bedazzled with jewels, and the Old Testament told them how to wear it. They had different kind of linens and an ephod and cloaks. I mean, you've seen religious people. They get real fancy, like special hats and all the things, you know what I mean?

And John's like, yeah, that's good for you, bro, but that ain't my game. I'm not going to put on those clothes because those clothes aren't for me. I'm going to kill a camel. I'm going to wrap it around me. I'm going to get me a leather belt because that's all I need. He was not playing into the traditions of man. He was just about his father's business. Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist,

and his food was locust and wild honey. You see, John the baptizer is the cousin of Jesus. He's about six months older than Jesus, and if you look in the Gospel of Luke, what you'll find is that when Mary is pregnant with baby Jesus and goes to see her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist, the baby in the womb of Elizabeth leaps with joy, because that baby knows that the other baby is the Messiah. Real quick, not a clump of cells.

In the New Testament, the same human being on the inside of Mary, the same word is used for when the baby gets to the outside of Mary. In the womb of Mary, we talked about this at some point, the hypostatic union in the womb of Mary is the son of God and he's fully man and he's fully God. He did not become fully man once he was born. Why? because according to the scriptures, life begins at conception,

not when some dummy on a college campus thinks it does. This is what's happening here. And what the gospel writers want us to do is the moment John the baptizer shows up on the scene, they want us to understand this was not an accident. That God had foretold this for a long time. If you've got your Bible open like you should, like I said, if you'll back up just, well, I use the ELP version,

the extra large print. So it ain't going to be long for I'm going to be like in the beginning. Okay, so whatever. So in my Bible, it's probably less than yours. Oh, you group over here when you can carry your whole Bible in your pocket and just read it. Oh, just enjoy it, kids. All right, anyway, so glad you're here. If you'll just back up just a few pages, you will get to the last prophet in the Old Testament.

And it's pronounced Malachi, okay? The Italian. It's not true. It's Malachi. That's for all of you that move here from New York. I like Malachi. No, that's not. It's Malachi.

Here's the way the old covenant ends. So the whole old covenant opens it up. God creates Adam and Eve, sin enters the world. God shows up, gives us the proto-Vanguilion, gives us the curses, and then he says, there is one coming from your seed, a singular Jewish man, and the enemy is going to try to bruise his heel, and he's going to get his head crushed.

and then all of the rest of the old covenant is about the coming of the serpent crusher. And then when you get to the end of Malachi, there's that blank page in your Bible, okay? And that represents 400 years, and God didn't talk to his people the way he had been. And Malachi ends the whole Old Testament this way. He says, Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes, and he will turn the hearts of fathers to the children, hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with the decree of utter destruction. And then it's over.

It's over. And then Luke, the gospel writer, here's how he basically opens up the whole thing in chapter 1, verse 12. And Zechariah was troubled. That's John the Baptist's dad. And Zachariah was troubled when he saw him to him there's an angel and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zachariah, for your prayer has been heard. and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

Traditionally, he would have called his name like Zachariah Jr. But the angel, if an angel shows up and gives you a baby name, you should go with that name. That's what they do. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be grateful for the Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink,

and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb, once again, not to harp on this, clumps of cells don't get filled with the Holy Spirit, people get filled with the Holy Spirit. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in spirit and power of Elijah, and turn the hearts of fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.

And much like Elijah, we did a whole series on Elijah last year. John the Baptist is going to come in, what the Bible says is the spirit of Elijah. in accordance with the scriptures. And both John the Baptist and Elijah, they have a lot in coming. They didn't play the traditional roles, man. And before they step on the scene of ministry, they just lived in utter obscurity. They're just living out in the wilderness.

They're just accomplishing God's assignment for their life. They are not being conformed to the pattern of this world. And when John the Baptist walks out of the same, seen, man. I see it like he walks out of the woods and he just starts screaming, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. And people, people are leaning in because he's just telling them what they actually need to hear, not what they want to hear. And there's always groups of people that love to have their ears tickled. All right? So John the Baptist is not out there with this message of like, you know what, you're good enough, you're smart enough,

don't want to people like you. That's not what he's doing. I mean, He's a man's man. He's not afraid. He's probably bald with a big old beard and yelled at people for a living. It's what he does. He's an outdoorsman. The Bible's going to say that he's a troubler, just like Elijah was a troubler.

He called out the religious leaders. You're going to see it in a minute. He essentially cusses the religious leaders. He tells them that their dad is the devil. That's what he's going to say. That'll be very offensive. He confronted society. He's like, you're chasing after the wrong things.

And, jot this one down, he called out politicians to their face. He says, instead of walking, it accordance with God, because the authority that you have is given to you by God. What what you're actually doing is you're throwing parades for things we ought to throw funerals for. And may God's judgment be on your head. This is what he does. And the politicians don't like it, so they have him killed.

But it doesn't stop him. And, by the way, when Jesus talks about John the Baptist, you know what he doesn't say? He doesn't say, well, he is a good guy, but he got too political. It's not what he said. He says, if all the people ever been born of a woman, just case you're taking notes, that's all of them, he's the best. That's what he said. Because he stood on the truth of the word of God, and he just did what the word told him to do. We talked about this during the Delagia series.

I'll say it again. And we need some more troublers that will trouble the status quo of this world. We need some more people that are more concerned about what God thinks and what people think. We need some more people that are not just trying to use some verses in the Bible for the blessing of God, but we stand under the authority of God and we're like the mailman. We're into delivery business, not the manufacturing business. We don't get to make it up. We just get to deliver the word of God because he is the king of kings, the Lord of Lord,

is the creator of all things, and he knows how it works best. and actually you will not break God's word, you'll just break yourself against it. And we need some more, especially men. We spent a whole year on it, so hopefully we're further down the road, being like John the Baptist doing whatever it takes, whatever it takes for us to be in alignment with God.

And so this is who this brother is. So he's out there, very short messages. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Verse five. He gets very popular. Then Jerusalem and all Judea, And all the region about the Jordan, we're going out to him. He's out, he's in the Jordan.

I've been there. I've been to a place that they think Jesus was baptized. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's not awesome. It's muddy. The water's gross. It's freezing cold.

Freezing cold. And he's out there in the wilderness. Now, when we see this, when we see people going from Jerusalem out to the country, we don't think about it that much. But here's what's happening. Pay attention to this. People are going from the city of Jerusalem out into the country. Here's why this matters in the first century.

They are going from comfortable to uncomfortable. It was uncomfortable out in the wilderness. Because that's where like bandits and tribes and people that would kill you lived. There was comfort on the inside of the wall of Jerusalem. There was order there. They are going from safe to dangerous. These days, to go from the city. city to the country is to go from dangerous to safe, mostly.

Back then, it was to go from safe to dangerous. You see, some of you, in order to be about God's business in your life, you're going to have to move away from the comfortable a little bit, because your life's just too comfortable. You're going to have to move away from safety just a little bit. I'm telling you, man, one of the things that Gretchen and I have been committed to with our children, they're a little bit older now, but we tried really, really hard. not to be parents that just said, be safe. That is not the highest value in the Bible.

Be wise for sure. Be courageous, for sure. But be safe. We live in the safest society in the history of humanity. How's that working out? I mean, when I see kids riding on bicycles now, and I compare them to Gen X riding bicycles, I think they have more safety equipment to ride a huffy

than the dudes that went to outer space did. It's unbelievable. I'm like, helmet, knee pads, elbow. Pops, what are you, are you racing? What are you doing? Be safe. And I'm telling you, I don't think we should be careless, but if the ultimate value is to be careful, you're going to have a real time following what the book says that we're supposed to do. I mean, listen, man, if safety is your highest value, following Jesus might not be on your bingo card. And sometimes this used to be the safest place you can be is the center of God's will.

You might want to read the book. God himself got crucified for being in the center of God's will. All of the disciples died, martyrs death for being in the center of God's will. Now ultimately that works out one day when you get to heaven, but man here on earth, you follow Jesus. It might hurt a little bit. And yet, if we're not willing to leave our comfortable, we may not ever hear the message that God has for us. And so Jerusalem and Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him,

verse 6, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sin. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, well, I'd just like to welcome our guest. It's not what you said, man. You know, would all the first timers please stand up? We just want to welcome you.

So glad you're here. Got you a coffee mug. It's not what he did, man. Here's what he said. In English, this doesn't have like a, ugh, did it did there. He says, you brood of vipers. You brood of vipers. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bear fruit in keeping with the repentance?

He calls them hypocrites. It would be like the biggest insult you could give to the religious leaders. When he caused him brood of vipers, there are some snakes, and they, like, the baby snakes are hatched out of eggs, but it happens on the inside of the mama, and their hatch there, and then they eat their way out of the mama snake. There's a brood. It's a bunch of little baby snakes. You know who a snake was in the Bible?

Go back to Genesis chapter 3. Who was the snake? The devil. So if you were a brood of vipers, what he's saying is, your daddy is the devil. And these were the religious people. And then they're just showing up. Here's something you might want to write down.

Not everybody that gets close to you or follows you is for you. Yeah, man. Some people roll up on you, roll up on your Instagram, and, you know, they like a thing here too, but what they're actually trying to do is just trying to find a space to take you out.

By the way, Jesus is going to also tell this group of men, your daddy is the devil. So what you've got is it's got a bunch of self-righteous, religious leaders, and here's the problem. God is on the move through John the Baptist and outsider out at the River Jordan, and they didn't, and he didn't check with the homeowners association to see if it was okay or not. And the religious guys show up with the clipboard to look for all the things he's doing wrong.

They're listening to his sermon not to hear the word of God, but to double-check him to see if he's okay or not. That's what self-righteous religious leaders do. They lead with suspicion, and very few times that the Pharisees and Sadducees ever took. team up together. They were actually political enemies. The Sadducees was a smaller group and it was very liberal. They didn't even believe the law. They didn't believe in the afterlife. So they're, they were kind of like, we should eat, drink, and be merry, because this is it. We're wormdirt after this. The Pharisees didn't think the law was enough. So they added to Moses's 613 laws. And so these were like the most conservative people. And you see, our hope will never be found in political,

liberal, or conservatism. Our hope is found in King Jesus. period in die. And here's the thing, though, they show up with a critical heart. A critical mind is vital. The Bible says test every spirit. That we should be like the Bereans. The Bereans are the people in the Bible that when they heard teaching, the Bible says they studied the word of God

to see if the person preaching was telling the truth or not. By the way, this is why I asked you to open up to the book of Matthew so you can see I'm not making this stuff up. Critical mind, praise God, for that. A critical heart is cancer to the body of God. I hope you realize this. Because when you are constantly suspicious of motives, what happens is it will rob you of joy

and it will not allow you to celebrate what God is doing in somebody else's life because they didn't do it the way you think it ought to happen. Yeah, man. What we're going to see in the gospel of Matthew is Jesus will do a miracle. Like my favorite one to talk about in this is when he heals the man, by the pool of Bethesland, he says, take up your mat and follow me. And the religious leaders with a suspicious heart come up,

and they can't even see the miracle. All they can see is the mat. And so these are the bad guys. They're going to be bad the whole time. And he says that you're hypocrites. He says, you need to bear fruit in accordance with what you teach. That's what he's saying. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

In other words, your life does not reflect your message. That's what he tells them. Verse nine. And do not presume to say to yourselves, this is what the religious people are saying. Like, you know who you talk to? Do you know who my dad is? We have Abraham as our father.

And John the Baptist is like, well, that's adorable. For, I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. It's like, you missed the point of the blessing. The point of the blessing, we talked about this last week. Paul covers this in Romans chapter 9 and Galatians chapter 3. there is no group entrance into heaven. It's a single file line.

And there is no way, no way, no way. This is very offensive, so make sure you hear it. There is no way you can simultaneously accept God the Father and reject God the Son. That is not an option. In fact, Jesus, when he himself says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.

And what these people were doing was trying to accept the God of the Old Testament while rejecting the person of Christ who is standing right there in front of them. And what John the Baptist is saying is, listen, God will bring all his children home. And like we studied in Romans 9 and Glacius chapter 3, and nobody is born into it. God saves first names, not last names. And so if he wants to call these rocks his kids, then that's his prerogative. Verse 10, it gets worse. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees, every tree therefore, that does

not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. He is talking about judgment. Listen, I love enough to tell you this. Judgment is coming. Every single one of us one day will stand before the Almighty God of the universe and we will give account. And if you read the book of Revelation, there's more than one judgment. There's the great white throne judgment, which is about salvation. There's the Lamb's Book of Life and anybody that puts their faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation of you, then you are in the Lamb's Book of Life. You get to go to heaven. And then there is a following set of books.

And this is where, like when Jesus says every single one of us will give an account for every word that we say, there's this kind of judgment. And he's saying a judgment is coming. And in verse 11, I've read this a bunch, but for whatever reason, I spent about three hours just on this verse in the tree stand this week. He says, I baptize you with. water for repentance. So John the Baptist's baptism

and what we do in baptism, Christian baptism, it's not the same. Okay? I'll talk about that in a second. He says, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me, that's Jesus, is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry, and he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

And I'm going to be honest, I'm like, what does that even mean? baptized in the Holy Spirit, let's go. Praise God, give me that. What does it mean to be baptized in fire? Well, okay, John the Baptist, water baptism was for preparation. Jesus is going to come to declare salvation. Baptism doesn't save you.

It declares that you are saved. More to come. I'm going to unpack that a little bit more in a minute. But Jesus is going to immerse you. The word baptized just means immerse. Baptizo means the dip-dunk are immersed. So Jesus, not only on his first rounds coming to save, on his second rounds coming to judge.

And all of us will be judged. And we will be immersed with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now we see a foreshadowing of this at Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus is essentially to the right hand of God the Father, that the Spirit of God moves on every believer like a wind. And people are immersed in the Holy Spirit and tongues of fire fall down on them, but it's more than that. Historically, there's two understandings of what this means.

to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. Almost everybody I read did an either-or thing, and I'm just, my cards on the table, I think it's a both-and. Here it is. One of the options. I think it's both. He could be talking about the judgment of salvation.

That, like, as a group, everybody is going to be to experience Jesus. Either by Holy Spirit or by fire. We're talking about heaven and hell. in Matthew 25 Matthew says At the end of it all Jesus is going to return He's going to separate everybody

Like sheep and goats And the gospel quartet Cake back in the day had a song And it said sheep Go to heaven, goats go to hell It's very biblical. The reality is, listen, The Bible says every knee will bow

And every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Okay? But not everybody's going to heaven So you know what this means? Jesus will be your Lord He will either be the Lord of your salvation or he will be the Lord of your judgment. He will be first in your life.

He will either be first as your Savior or he will be first as your judge. Hear me. Every single one of us will stand before God. Which baptism do you want? Do you want the baptism of the Holy Spirit where he pours out His grace on you and fills you with his love and wipes your sins away and adopts you as his child? or do you want the baptism of his justice because he is just all sin must be paid for and do you want to volunteer to pay for it on your own

that will require an eternal damnation in an actual literal physical hell? This is what he's saying. This is what he's saying. You see, the reality is this, if you're a Christian, if you're a Christian, if you're a follower of Jesus, this is as close to hell as we'll ever be.

This is it, man. There will come a day in our redemption and our glorification, and there'll be no more pain, and he'll wipe away every tear. And the loved ones that know him will be reunited with him, and nobody's going to be broke. Doesn't matter how much food costs up there. You know what?

I got so much gold to use it as asphalt. Ain't nobody going to be hungry. I can't find a verse where there's a vegetable mentioned at the banqueting table. It's going to be gospel meat up there, bacon, rat filets, stuff like that. I'm telling you, man. Bread, wine, it's all good. this is as close

if you're a Christian this is as close to hell as you'll ever be all right they won't ever miss a pass interference call at the end of the game to ruin it that won't happen people actually have eyes to see this is it as bad as it gets

and I have horrifying news if you're not a believer this is as close to heaven as you're ever going to experience every good and perfect gift comes from above anything lovely anything good anything pure anything from a sunrise to the beach to the love you have for your kid this is it man it's the common grace of God and if you don't know him you will be separated from all of that for all eternity and i

don't even have language to explain it so if you don't know him believe put your faith in him Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, who got in some serious trouble towards the end of his life about, he said, I don't know, I don't even have enough time to dig into all the things that he said and was he kidding or what is he not, but whatever. He was pretty much labeled as saying some seriously racist things. And then he's dying of cancer, and on his deathbed,

he's recording these videos, like from hospice. And he says, many of my Christian friends have asked me to find Jesus before I go. I am not a believer, but I have to admit, The risk-reward calculation for doing so looks so attractive to me. So here I go. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I look forward to spending an eternity with him. The part about me, not being a believer,

should be quite quickly resolved if I wake up in heaven. I won't need any more convincing than that. I hope I'm still qualified. Well, what qualifies you is not what you do is what Christ has done on your behalf. And again, man, when you read this, because I was reading this, what's called Reddit or some kind of terrible thing like that. And what the guy was saying was like, that's not fair. How is he going to live his whole life saying, I don't believe, I don't believe, I don't believe, I don't believe.

And on the last minute, just out of fear, say, okay, I believe, that's called grace, people. It is by grace that we have been saved through faith, not by works. That is how scandalous the grace of God. So the question is, do you want to be baptized with the Spirit of God or by fire? The fire of judgment. Now, there's another group of people that think that this baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire might be not about redemption, but about refining. And I'm going to be honest. I think I agree with that, too.

I think ultimately, when Jesus is saying, or when John the Baptist is saying about Jesus, you're going to be baptized by the Holy Spirit and Fire, that is like a judgment on salvation, yes and amen. But my testimony is I met Jesus. The Spirit was deposited on the inside of me, and I walked through a little. fire too. Sometimes when the Bible talks about fire, it talks about fire as a refiner. That the believer is immersed in the Holy Spirit. Ephesians chapter 1 versus 13 and 14. The moment you trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you get all of the Holy Spirit.

God unzips you, rips out your dead, decrepit black heart, takes the Holy Spirit, sticks him in there as a deposit forever and ever and ever, zips it back up and says, good luck. Not good luck. Go for it. Whatever he says. Okay. Now, and yet several times in the Gospels in the book of Acts, the phrase filled with the spirit will be used.

So just because you have the Spirit of God deposited in you does not mean that we are living fully in line with the Spirit. The question is not, do you need more to Spirit of God? The question is, does Spirit of God have all of you? And so I do think, though, that even those of us who believe and the Spirit of God has been placed in sight. of us, according to Ephesians 1, 13, and 14, that there is still a process of sanctification

that the Bible calls refining. Back to Malachi. Malachi is prophesying about this very moment. Malachi chapter 3 says this. Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

But who can endure the day? day of his coming, talking about judgment, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiners fire. A fuller's soap. I didn't study the soap stuff. I don't know about soap. I'm going to tell you about fire. He will sit, this is crazy, that he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he

will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. There were some people, and they went and they interviewed a silver, And they're like, they didn't tell him they were Christians trying to figure out what these verses mean. They just ask him about this process of refining silver. And sure enough, the silversmith is sitting while he's refining the fire. And they're like, why you got to sit there? And he's like, well, I've got to sit here because the edges of the fire aren't enough.

I got to keep it right in the middle to burn out all of the impurities. And then the people said, well, how do you know when it's ready? And the silversmith said, that's easy when I can see my image in it. that's what God is doing in the believer. Romans 828, boy, we love this one, as we should. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Praise God for that. But here's his purpose. For those who he foreknew, he also predestined. Don't worry, that word just means what it says. You're predestined, okay, whatever. For those whom he forenue, he also predestined, to be conformed to the image of his son. How do you think that happens?

You think you just trust Jesus and he just sprinkled some conforming the enemies of his sun dust on you? Everybody I know with the deepest most abiding walk with Jesus in the areas of their life, their time in their life when they grew the most, it was always when they were walking through the fire.

It was always in the most difficult places. You know how easy it is to trust God and everything is going good? Yeah, man. But what about it? about when it all falls apart, man, that's the refiner's fire. You see, because he's burning away everything in you that doesn't conform to the image and likeness of his son. I don't read me any comments online. I just ain't got time, man, and it makes me mad, so I want

to fight, and then that ain't good, so whatever. Sometimes I'll read, I don't like Joby. I'm like me either. He's been the biggest pain in my whole life. My whole life? I've been walking with Jesus a minute, but I'm still on the backside of Romans chapter 7. There's still a lot of refining that has to happen in me. What is wrong with me? The things I don't want to do, I do, and the things I don't want to do, these things I keep on doing? Is there any hope for me? And it's not, buckle up, buttercup.

That's not what it is. It's not try harder, do better. No, no, no. It's who will save a wretch like me? Praise God for Jesus Christ, the Savior. And then when I'm in him, therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And a part of the, part of the way we know what this means is, is by the next verses that he gives. He says, his winnowing fork, that's like a pitch for, big pitch for it. His winnowing

floor is in hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. Again, I think this is about both salvation and sanctification. So what they would do is they would bring in all the wheat and a lot of along with it are the stalks and the dead leaves and that's called the chaff. And they had this big like stone floor and they would take a pitchfork and they would grab it and they would throw it up in the air on a windy day and the wheat is heavy so it would fall back down and the chaff is real light like toilet paper and the wind would blow it away and this was this separation.

So that is going to happen in regards to salvation. There will be a day of judgment. And if you've not put your faith in Christ, I am begging you. today believe on Christ for your salvation but it also doesn't i mean we've got any Christians here it can testify i feel like he's been throwing me around with the wintering for it sometimes too i mean listen man i didn't know what a selfish arrogant son of a gun i was i got married started sharing my life and house with this lady i thought what is wrong with her did i'm brushing my teeth one day and i'm like there it is that's what's wrong with her she's picked a horrible roommate he's a slime

He's a mess. He's selfish. He always wants his way. He demands his own way. He's easily irritated. He's rude. Uh-oh. And that was just the Lord.

Then I'm telling you, marriage is the left lane of sanctification. The auto bond, parenthood. My gosh. You're just screaming at your kids. What are you doing? You're acting just like I act. Stop. And that's just the Lord, man.

Just separating. I know I've shared this 10,000 times, but... This is what it is. So many times, you see, James says that we should actually thank God when we face trials of many kinds. We get Romans 828. It's okay to look over your shoulder and see how God was at work. James, the brother of Jesus, he knows a thing or two. He's like, actually what you ought to do is considerate pure joys, my brothers.

When you face trial, when trial is coming at you, you're like, how are you doing trial? I'm glad to see you. and the reason I'm glad to see you, because I know God is at work, and I don't like this, but he's going to produce some things in me, and you're the only way it can be produced in me. There's only one way to get endurance. It's to endure. They don't make a GLP 1 for endurance. Patience.

You get this? So you've heard it before. I'm yelling at my football players at Providence. them juggers in there in the weight room just what are they doing man working out like swimsuit models that ain't it boys and I screamed that everybody wants to be strong

nobody wants to be sore and I thought holy moly that ought to be a proverb for the American church everybody wants to be strong everybody wants to be growing in a deepening relationship with Jesus don't want to do anything about it God is so good that he

can use our absolute worst days for good and our joy. So the winnowing fork is at hand and he will clear his threshing four and gather his wheat into the barn but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. And now Jesus is going to get baptized. And I got to go fast. Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him.

And John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you. You come to me? You ever feel unworthy? You'd be like, I can't lead a disciple group. I'm a sinner. Ever do that, you know? Ever look at how God blesses you?

You're like, I don't think I deserve this. You're in good company. That's what John the Baptist felt like. So, boss, I can't baptize you. You ought to baptize me. I got really good news, man. I feel the same way all the time. And God's blessing makes it worse, not better.

You know what I mean? And it's just more evidence of his grace. I mean, the Bible says he uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Look who's talking to you right now. I'm just telling you. It's only by God's good grace in his sovereign hand that he could use a jacked up, wretched, black-hearted, nobody from nowhere to just do what he tells you to do,

and then God gets all the glory. And what's great about John, man, John's ministry's blowing up. He's got a blue check online. They want to interview him and all. all of the ministries and he's like, no, dude, that ain't it. The point of John the Baptist's life was to point people to Jesus. That's it. News flash on the book of Matthew before we get to neighbors and nations.

The point of your life is to point people to Jesus. That's it. That's the whole point of your life. That's why he's giving you everything that you have. How do you do that? Do you have to start a ministry? You're already in ministry. My job is to whip you for the work of the ministry.

You do it when you give. You do it when you pray. You do it when you go. You do it when you share an invitation. but if your life is not ruled by God's great commission, then you're not doing it right. We're not doing it right. I hope you realize this.

The church doesn't have a mission. The mission has a church. Jesus has a mission. Therefore, go and make disciples of everywhere, everywhere you are on the go. I don't know who they are and what they believe and what they used to believe, and you teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.

You baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I don't know what to say. Don't worry about it. I'll be right there with you. That's the promise. That's the mission. and so God created a church to accomplish the mission, not the other way around.

So Jesus answered him, let it be so now, like, hey, you're going to dunk me. For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness, then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water. Okay, Jesus got baptized to be an example to us. He is identifying with us as sinners because, think about it. John the Baptist is saying, repent and be baptized, repent and be baptized, repent and be baptized. Wait, Jesus, you've got nothing to repent of. He's like, yeah, I'm going to come and be sin on these folks' behalf that they may be able to receive my righteousness.

And so baptism doesn't save you. Baptism is an outward invisible symbol of an inward working grace. It doesn't. Next week, we're going to start baptizing people. We're going to have tubs up front. There ain't nothing holy about the water. It's J-E-A. It's nothing but the sovereignty of God decided that there was going to be in a baptism instead of the toilet.

Same water. Think about that. you're just declaring I renounce the sins of my past the ways of this world anything darker to monk have ever been connected to and I pledge my allegiance to Christ and Christ along Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior you are verbally repenting that's what people are doing it's like a my favorite example is a wedding ring christians just got me a new one man it's got bucks fighting on it man you can't hide money I'm telling you what straight up I wish you could see it it's elk fighting it's called the rut pretty much describes my role in our

marriage. All right. So anyway, this is not my marriage. Gretchen I stood in an altar, almost 26 years ago, be 26 next month. And we said I do. And if I never put this thing on, she'd still be my wife. If I lost it, she'd still be my wife. This just tells the whole world I made a vow to that girl.

That's it. And if you put this waiting ring on, that does not mean that you get my wife. not a chance there sucker she's mine got it it doesn't save you it just tells the world you're saved the reason that we dunk is because that's what the word of me baptizo means the dip dunks submerge you can't come up out of a sprinkle jesus came up out of the water it is a picture of death of life that's what it is in romans chapter 6 it says do you not know that all of us have been baptized baptizo dip dunks submerged immersed into christ jesus we were baptized into his death We were buried therefore by him, by baptism, into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too may walk in a newness of life.

So when you see somebody professed Jesus Christ, their Lord and Savior, it's already actually happened. The moment you were sitting near your seat and you're like, I don't think I'm going to raise my hand, you're getting saved right then. And then however long after you get up here and you get in the water and you profess it and you go public. And then what you're telling the world is, say by to the old me because he's gone, dead, buried. washed by the blood of the lamb and resurrected to the newness of life. And just like Jesus walked out of the grave, I'm walking out of the grave of sin and death too. That's what baptism is. And then that's what we do.

The plain reading of the New Testament is that baptism is for the believer. And if you say, so what if I was baptized as a baby, you should call your mom and say, Mama, thank you so much for prophesying over me that one day I could claim Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. And now I'm going to be baptized by immersion in water to ratify the prayers that you were praying over me when I didn't even know I was there. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. You're not undoing anything. You're just finishing the drill. That's what you're doing.

And some of you're like, okay, last year I got baptized and I had a rough for a couple months. But now I'm back. Can I do it again? There's no need to. There's one baptism. You're all set. It counted. Jesus knew the sin he was going to be washing away.

Now that is not Elysses 2 sin. That is freedom from it. So if you have never been baptized as a believer in Christ, then you should go to baptism class immediately following this service. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. In accordance with the commands of Jesus, you go and let us celebrate what Christ is already done for you.

And it says, and behold, after Jesus comes out of the water, it's my favorite part. And the heavens were open to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and coming to rest on him and behold a voice from heaven, by the way, this is where we get the under, this is one of many, many, many places in the Bible where we get the understanding of the Trinity. It's not like God represents himself in different modes over different time.

It's not how it works. It's one God and three persons. And at the baptism of Jesus, the Godhead is there. That God the Son is standing in the water. God the Spirit is descending on Christ like a dove, and God the Father speaks out loud. and here's what he says this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased

all right pop quiz for the gifted class if you've been here both weeks of Matthew how much ministry has Jesus done so far none now he was incarnated that's a big deal

but he hadn't taught hadn't done a miracle definitely hadn't died on the cross been resurrected from the grave he has not put he has not accomplished his mission he hadn't done anything yet and before he does anything God places his approval on his son. Behold my son in whom I am well pleased.

If you are in Christ, God's word over you, before you anything good and even after you've screwed up, he says, behold my son or daughter in whom I am well pleased. First John chapter 4 verse 10 explains it this way. In this is love, not that we have loved God. God is not responding to us. God is not waiting for you to start. tithing to quit cussing so much, to quit watching terrible TV shows on Netflix, to

break up with her. He's not waiting. He's not withholding. He's not responding to see if you get your act together to decide if he loves you right out. No, no, no. In this is love. Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and said his son to be the propitiation for our sin. And again, propitiation means a payment that satisfies. And here's why, if you can actually believe that, down to your bones that will change everything about you. Because most of us think God is aggravated with us because we're aggravating. You got anybody in your life that doesn't keep all their promises? They're frustrating, right?

You keep all your promises to God. And so we think he looks at us the way either our dad looked at us or we look at other people when they let us down. And yet the Bible would say that Jesus is the propitiation for our sin. Propitiation very simply means a payment that satisfies. So if you apply the saving blood of Jesus to your life, that means because Christ is fully satisfied, the law of God, the justice of God, the righteousness of God on the cross, then God cannot be dissatisfied in you. And you know what that means?

Freedom. Freedom from the opinion of man. Freedom from the lust of the flesh. Freedom from the temporary things of this world. Because you have the approval of the God. of the universe and you did nothing to earn it or deserve it, which means you can't do anything to unearn it. Why? Because you're saying Christ is enough. That's it. So John the Baptist came and baptized with water. If you are a believer in Jesus and you've never been baptized, you should

take the plunge. Right after this, you should go directly to the class. And I'm telling you, if you're like, well, I wrote with somebody, they will wait. And if they won't wait, they're probably going to hell, okay? But let them go. Bring them with you. Share the gospel with them. And not because you're getting baptized, not because you're taking any step of obedience, but God's posture towards you when you put your faith in Christ as this. Behold, that's my boy. That's my girl. And in you, I am so pleased. That is the good news of the gospel. And we will be baptized. We can either be immersed in the grace, in the goodness, in the glory of the Spirit of God

who gave his son to redeem us we will be immersed in the fire of judgment by our own evil decision to reject God. I am begging you. On behalf of Jesus Christ, I stand as an ambassador of his glory

and say, won't you put your faith in him? Won't you trust him? And if you're like, yeah, you don't know what I've done, then you don't know what he did for you on the cross. there is more grace in him than sin in you. He'll take any person that just believes when he died on the cross, that what he did on the cross was enough to pay for your sin, the propitiation for your sin.

And the moment you believe, you receive the right to become a child of God. Would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes? And if that's you, and today, for the very first time, you were ready to put your faith in Christ for your sin to be forgiven, to be adopted into his family. The Bible says all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. And if you were ready for the very first time to call on the name of the Lord,

I right now want you to lift your hand as high as you can and just say it. Lord Jesus save me. And that is a prayer that can answer 100% of the time. The Bible promises that if you, if you put your faith in him in this very moment, sins washed away, the spirit of God fills you, and you will be forever sealed. And the pleasure of God, the approval of God is put on you by putting your faith in Jesus Christ. our good and gracious Heavenly Father God we love you more than anything Jesus we thank you that you have set for us an example and we should do likewise

that we should go public with our faith and God many of us feel like we're walking through the fire right now even though we know you and God as hard as it is we say thank you thank you for the trials and the tribulations that you use in our lives to conform us to your image and God I thank you and I praise you for the men the women the students in this very moment who have had their sins washed away, the Spirit of God has been deposited into their life, they have been brought from death to life,

and may from now on they walk in that newness of life. And God, may every single one of us who knows you walk with your approval. Not trying to earn it, knowing we can't lose it, but because of what Christ has done for us, that your word over us is, behold, my son or daughter, and whom I am well pleased.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, would you please stand as we respond? We're going to respond to the gospel because he deserves it. We're going to make much of him that Christ is enough. Not my works, not my past, but Christ is enough. We're going to bring our tides and our offerings. Because we're going to look at this world and say,

You ain't the boss of me. I'm bringing to my king first and best. That's ties and offerings. Because I want my heart to follow after my treasure, and I treasure him before all things, and we are going to pray. It could be about big things, it could be about little things. It's about all the things. Why?

Because you have a Heavenly Father that in Christ looks at you and says, hey man, I've already placed my approval on you. So whatever that thing is you need, you bring it to me. So let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond.